In honor of mental health awareness month, a bipartisan mental health advocacy organization launches an awareness campaign across Virginia.
Listen to the report below or read the full story:
Inseparable – a nationwide mental health advocacy organization – has launched a campaign aimed at raising Virginians awareness regarding the insurance industry’s practices surrounding mental healthcare called ‘Care that’s Fair’. Abbie Hodgson, VP of State Affairs for the organization, says that right now Virginia meets less than 25-percent of its mental health workforce demands: leaving many Virginians without the care that they need, “Approximately 50% of people in Virginia who are seeking treatment are unable to get treatment because, in part, of the workforce shortage.”
She says in addition to fighting for insurance policy reform, her organization advocates for common-sense solutions to that workforce shortage, calling for everything from state-sponsored scholarships, and stipends for mental health professionals, to awareness campaigns like the ‘Care That’s Fair’ campaign, “There’s a variety of things that states can do to help build the workforce. A lot of them come with supporting the very people we’re asking to do the work. And then, of course, I think just awareness as well – that there is a demand, and that action is needed – can also be an incentive for more people to enter into that workforce.”
The campaign comes ahead of the organization’s planned push for lawmakers at the state and federal level to address three main categories of mental healthcare reform: including improved insurance coverage for mental health treatments, improved access to providers and medications, and improved affordability for mental health care overall.
The post Inseparable’s ‘Care That’s Fair’ Campaign Highlights VA’s Struggling Mental Healthcare Industry first appeared on News/Talk 960-AM & FM-107.3 WFIR.
